In the unloading of bulk material from such storage spaces as cargo holds in bulk transport vessels, use has often been made of land-based unloading apparatuses with a conveyor suspended on a crane arm, this conveyor being called a vertical conveyor and whose purpose is to convey bulk material up from the storage space. It has been possible, by means of the land-based crane device, to move the vertical conveyor to different parts of the storage hold for removing major fraction of the bulk material. Land-based unloading apparatuses of this type are relatively expensive and do not occur in all harbours where unloading of bulk material is desired. As a result, it has become the practice to install in vessels diverse types of fixed unloading apparatuses. The prior art unloading apparatuses installed in vessels are highly complex and have the disadvantage that they do not make possible a substantially complete removal of all bulk material. Particular difficulties have also arisen in the unloading of such difficult bulk materials as soya bean derivate, cement or alumina.
One object of the present invention is to provide a novel apparatus for unloading bulk material from a storage space, for example a cargo hold or a silo, this apparatus, which, in a known manner, comprises a vertical conveyor whose inlet end is located close to the bottom of the storage space, making possible a more extensive machine-operated emptying of the storage space than has hitherto been possible with prior art unloading apparatuses in a corresponding price range. Other objects of the present invention will be apparent from the following description.